Daily Progress: Health summit turns its focus toward opioid epidemic

The opioid epidemic weighed heavily on the 400-plus attendees at a statewide conference on population health, which kicked off Wednesday afternoon at the Omni Charlottesville Hotel.

The annual conference, now in its third year, brings together health care providers, social workers and nonprofit organizations to share information on controlling health care problems on a large scale.

This year, organizers said they’re giving extra attention to the opioid epidemic, which claimed almost 1,100 lives in Virginia in 2016, according to projected numbers from the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner of Virginia. Opioid overdoses now outpace traffic accidents as a cause of death in Virginia.